Good news for Woolworths Food customers, and Absa CEO’s message to South Africa

South Africa’s rand strengthened slightly against a weaker dollar on Tuesday (11 March) amid ongoing global and domestic economic uncertainty.

Investors were mainly focused on an upcoming U.S. inflation report for insights into the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.

The rand was trading at 18.30 against the U.S. dollar, approximately 0.3% stronger than its closing value on Monday.

Attention will also be on the local budget presentation scheduled for Wednesday, which was postponed last month due to disagreements within the coalition government regarding a proposed two-percentage-point increase in value-added tax.

On Wednesday (12 March), the rand was trading at R18.27 to the dollar, R23.61 to the pound and R19.91 to the euro. Oil is trading lower at $69.25 a barrel.

Here are five other news stories making waves in South Africa today:

Message to South Africa: Absa’s interim CEO, Charles Russon, has warned that South Africa must urgently de-escalate tensions with the United States. He stated that worsening diplomatic ties under former President Donald Trump threaten the rand, foreign investment, and economic growth. [News24]

Good news for Woolworths food: Woolworths is sourcing from other suppliers and expects to have fully stocked shelves soon after supply issues and disruptions left some stores short of fresh produce and meat. [Business Day]

Budget D-day: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set to table his revised budget for 2025 on Wednesday (12 March). Economists expect taxpayers to suffer even without a massive VAT hike. [BusinessTech]

Gauteng health crisis: hospitals in Gauteng have been hit with a freeze on hiring new staff and halting ordering new equipment since October 2024. In February 2025, Gauteng Department of Health Deputy Director-General (DDG) Basani Baloyi allegedly met hospital CEOs and human resource managers to tell them that the post freeze would continue. [Daily Maverick]

Pam Golding hacked: Pam Golding Properties has reported a data breach that resulted in unauthorised access to some of the personal information stored on the group’s customer relationship management (CRM) system. [BusinessTech]